Trauma education in a state of emergency: a curriculum-based analysis

Background: Trauma is the leading cause of death from ages 1-44-y in the United States and the fifth leading cause of death overall, but there are few studies quantifying trauma education in medical school. This study reviews curriculum hours devoted to trauma education at a northeastern medical school.

Materials and methods: We reviewed the preclinical curriculum at a northeastern medical school affiliated with three adult and two pediatric level I trauma centers verified by the American College of Surgeons. We reviewed curricular hours and we categorized them according to the leading ten causes of death in the United States. We also compared the number of educational hours devoted to trauma to other leading causes of death.

Results: The total amount of time devoted to trauma education in the first 2 y of medical school was 6.5 h. No lectures were given on the fundamentals of trauma management, traumatic brain injury, or chest or abdominal trauma. The most covered topic was heart disease (128 h), followed by chronic lower respiratory disease (80 h). Curricular time for heart disease, chronic lower respiratory disease, cancer, diabetes, renal disease, and influenza and pneumonia far exceeded that devoted to trauma, after adjusting for the mortality burden of these diseases (P < 0.05 for all).

Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that trauma education at a northeastern medical school is nearly absent. With the large burden of trauma and rise in mass casualty incidence, the preclinical curriculum might not be sufficient to expose students to the fundamentals of trauma management. A broader multi-institutional study may shed more insight on these curricular deficiencies in trauma education and detect if these deficiencies are widespread nationally.